Back on the Ranch

Lots of photos in this post.  Back to the ranch after having been gone a couple weeks.  This time I was able to get a friend to come out and help with hooves.  Cody hadn't thrown his other shoe and it took the two of us and a lot of elbow grease to get the darn thing off.  It also took 3 hours to trim up all three horses but they are finally done and looking good.  A little shorter than my previous farrier but since we aren't riding and it's been hard to get someone out, this is probably for the best.  Now I just need to keep up on the rasping myself.

We were actually at the farm for 2 extra days so in that time I spent some time putting up the new barn door, painting it, and cleaning up the shed.  Haji spent some time laying down while I worked.  It was a little weird but I'm hoping he was just happy I was there and decided he needed to nap.

We also pulled up the fence from the side yard and fenced in the end of the wheat field so we could turn them out there for a while.  There's quite a bit of volunteer wheat growing out there and lots of space so it gives them something exciting to do for a while.  They must still have enough grass since the round bale is still not gone and it's been out there for over a month.  I was expecting some exciting running and bucking when I put them out in the wheat but I guess the old guys are getting old.  They did run, a little.  But that was about it.

Sadly to get to the field they have to wade through a pretty decent patch of burrs and nasty things.  Not that they hadn't already found enough burrs.  Haji was covered.  I finally went out with some old cutter thing and chopped down a path so they can hopefully avoid a few burrs.

And then I decided I would put Haji's blanket on as it's been getting pretty chilly and he needs all the help he can get saving energy for gaining weight.  I made sure to moderate his introduction to Cody and Axel with the blanket on.  Sometimes they freak out when they see a blanket for the first time of the year.  Axel came prancing up like he was trying to impress that new purple horse.  Then he realized it was Haji and things were back to normal.

Long time no see

Well I finally made it back to the farm to check on the boys.  It was kind of a rough weekend.  The new farrier I had found apparently dumped me with no notice what so ever.  He asked to reschedule our second appointment and that was the last I heard of him.  Left him several messages and never heard anything back.  Is it really that hard to text me and say "sorry I don't have time for a new client, or it's too far to travel, or whatever?"  Ug anyways.

So I'm out a farrier.  We hadn't gotten the boys back on grain since moving them back to our place but they did have a round bale and the brother in law put the net on.  Apparently there was enough grass still growing because this 6x6 bale had been out for over 2 weeks and it was less than half gone.  And they had the net open (thus the hay all over the ground) so the slow feed net wasn't slowing anyone down.

But I thought everyone looked too skinny.  And it was crappy weather.  And the water tank was empty.  It all just piled on and I was feeling pretty down to the point I was going to try and find a place to board all three of them some where.

In all reality Haji isn't much different than he has been all year.  Other than putting on more fat I just don't think his body shape is going to change much.  He has muscle wastage on his back and at his age and retirement I just don't see him getting that back especially since we're dealing with a roach back to start.  And who knows what affect the cancer has on his system.  So I think it's just a matter of making sure he's fed and happy.  And boy can that horse eat.  He'll eat a full bucket of grain and knicker for more.  He even pushed me aside so he could get out the gate and graze in the yard.  Thank goodness he's easy to catch with a can of feed.

So since I was out a farrier I was left to my own devices.  I actually know someone that lives near the boys but she was unavailable this past weekend and she doesn't do shoes.  Since we're so far behind in trims, I was ready to pull shoes for the winter anyway.  So I was going to pull Cody's shoes myself and trim and trim everyone as best I could until I could get said friend out to help.  Cody had already pulled a shoe so I only had to work on one.  But I could not get that shoe off no matter what I did.  On top of the fact that Cody's feet are still a little tender I decided to give up on that.  I thought maybe Jeff could help but we ran out of time to even try.  I think I was able to rasp the clinches off so maybe he'll throw that one easily and not do any damage in the process.

So I nipped and rasps very conservatively on Cody and put him back.  I grabbed Haji and tried the same and as I was holding his front foot he went down on his knees.  Ug.  I didn't touch any one's back feet as they all seemed pretty okay.  And I didn't touch Axel's cuz his looked really good (though long). Basically I think I gave up.  Like I said, I was having an awful day.  But it sounds like my next trip out I'll be able to hook up with that friend that can help with the trims.

So I did end up grooming everyone, getting all the burrs out and what not.  Cody had a gash on his knee.  Haji got to graze in the yard while tied to the fence.  I was able to pick up more feed so now I have 300+ lbs of feed.  I don't think I'll run out in the next two weeks at least.  That reminds me to order more weight builder for Haji.

Jeff had been working on the tack room for me.  He cleaned a bunch out (though there's a lot left to go) and put up some lights and a set of lockers and one of my saddle racks.  I got some poison and mouse traps so hopefully we can get it cleaned out and sealed up a little better before I put my tack in there.  I should be able to keep bridles and blankets in the lockers and my saddles have covers.  I might have to add Bounce dryer sheets to my shopping list to put in with the saddles and help keep the mice away.  There's also some metal medicine style cabinets so once Jeff gets those better adhered to the walls I will put all the meds and first aid stuff in there.  He also built a new door so we have to get that up and paint it.

So in the end I was feeling a little better.  If everyone is still happy next trip out and we can get their feet under control I will feel much better about the situation.  One good thing was that Cody and Haji "shared" Haji's extra bucket of feed.  Cody didn't run Haji completely off.  So that was nice to see.

New Farrier

I took Friday off of work for our first new farrier appointment.  Thursday I almost had a heart attack as he texted and asked to reschedule (OMG no! It's a 3 hour drive, rescheduling is not good) for 5pm Friday instead of the morning.  Whew!  That would work just fine.  So while Daniel napped on Friday I met the farrier down at the boy's paddock.  His usual vehicle was in the shop so he was running a barebones operation.  I grabbed Haji first since his feet looked the worse.  Though over the few weeks he's been in Canby he's worn down the flares so they weren't as bad as they used to be.  I was surprised at how pushy he was!  What happened to our calm therapy horse?  Guess the old man needs some more ground work in his retirement to keep him nice and polite.

So all three boys had their feet done.  Cody needed his shoes reset but he apparently hadn't grown too much toe as the farrier didn't need to do any trimming, just some rasping after he reset the shoes.  Not the same shoes as before and he didn't shape them quite as intricately as our old farrier but I think they look okay.  This new farrier was really fast.  Granted the boys had worn their feet down pretty well so I'm sure that helped.  I think his work was a little less "pretty" than I'm used to but I think it'll work just fine.

We scheduled the next visit for 7 weeks out since 6 weeks + some pavement might be too quick.  The good news is that the farrier said he'd be just fine with fetching horses himself and trimming with me not being there (which is good since he'll be back on a Thursday).  He said he has a few clients he hasn't even met before.  Apparently this is fairly normal in these smaller farm towns.  He's a roper and teaches roping so I think he can handle the old men just fine.  I could always see if A could go down and help but just in case he can't it's nice to know this guy is okay with handling it on his own.  Works best for him I'm sure because he can show up whenever he can make it since he drives 90 minutes to get there.

So as you'll see in the one photo, Haji has some wounds on his legs.  I first noticed them on Friday, not sure when they showed up, seemed fairly fresh at that point.  Since they are so symmetrical and he re-opened them a few times over the weekend, I don't think he's falling down.  I think a wound from falling would be more uneven and less likely to recur several times.  Some research on the interwebs leads me to think he's just scraping them up by laying down.  Bedsores of sorts.  Since he's underweight and notoriously reacts poorly to bug bites, he probably has thinner skin than most.  So I smothered him in Swat all weekend to help keep the flies off.  Maybe Haji needs some legwarmers or knee pads.

The boys seem to have gotten their routine down pretty quickly.  After I feed in the morning they go and line up at the gate to the side yard.  We've only let them out there one weekend before but they were ready to go again.  Probably this next trip out we'll fence in a bit more (ran out of wire last time) and electrify the whole side yard so they can be turned out there more than just on the weekends if A wants.  The grass in the main yard is getting eaten down so it's nice to have another option for them to graze.

Since the boys like to chase Haji away from his food they usually get locked in the yard while Haji stays in the paddock to eat.  They do not approve of this arrangement.  But Haji has to eat so much more food and takes longer and needs to finish his food so that's how it'll have to go at least until they decide to leave him alone (yeah right).

Overall though, all 3 boys are getting along well.  The neighbors said they enjoy watching them.  They said at first Haji was kind of odd man out but every day they would get to be closer and closer friends.  Last weekend every time I went to see them they were all standing near each other and Haji was happily grazing.  Granted I didn't see him real often at his temporary home but when I was there it seemed like he stood pretty far off from the other horses or didn't graze as much.

And he's definitely gaining weight.  Slowly (which is good) but it's coming.  We're still trying to figure out the best way to get him to gain without having to feed him a billion pounds of food.  I might get a bag of beet pulp this week just to see if we mix it with feed if he'll eat it, he wasn't thrilled with beet pulp last time so I dunno (and it's kind of a pain since it needs to be soaked in water).  Who knows.  We're feeding about 12lbs of Nutrena Senior grain and MVP Pro-Weight supplement right now but I'm trying to get the farm store in town to carry Triple Crown Senior which has more fat and fiber.

So yeah, while it's hard to be so far away and be able to manage everything, I think things are going okay in our little long-distance horse-keeping adventure.

New Shoes

Cody got new shoes to get him through the rest of the fall season. He feels much better now.

Back in the Saddle a second time

Another farrier visit already. I left the baby with his dad and hit the road for the barn. The boys thought I was maybe going to feed them so they came trotting up from the opposite side of the pasture. Okay, Cody trotted, Axel limped.

After they had their feet done I saddled up Axel and took a few laps around the arena. He was moving out really well for the first two times around and then he decided he was sore and started limping like crazy. I guess it doesn't take much when you are out of shape. I wish he felt as good as he looks.

I'm still going to attempt a trip down the road, next week if I can get out there when N is out riding Cody. Axel might get himself some bute before that ride just to smooth it out a bit. He doesn't quite understand when I tell him that he's gotta keep moving despite the arthritis, it's the only way to keep it from getting stiff. Maybe drugs will speak louder than words.

Still Alive

I'm still alive and so are the horses. We stopped out last week to bring Daniel out to meet the boys but only stayed for a few minutes, the bugs were pretty bad. Then last night we had a farrier appointment so I left the baby with his great aunt and ran out to tend to the boys. Their hooves were looking pretty beat up from stomping flies. N has been riding Cody down the road, the last few times with another horse, and it's been going well. Meanwhile I'm counting down the days until I can ride again, though after so much time off, Axel and I might spend quite a bit of time in the arena! I can't wait until Daniel can ride!

Chiropractor and Farrier

Last week I waddled out to the barn to have the boys' chiropractor appointment. I foolishly decided to grab both horses at once which went okay until we got to the last gate and then both horses ended up in the yard wandering around and me with no lead ropes in my hand. Luckily Axel doesn't go any further than food and Cody was confused enough to stay put as well so I was able to catch them both without an issue. Then I figured I wasn't going to get them both through the little barn door so I tied Axel to the picnic table which he proceeded to drag into the driveway. *sigh*

Once I got both horses in the arena they goofed around for a while, Cody rolled and chased Axel around and they finally settled down. S was having both her boys tended to first so that gave us some time to wait. When she was done I put both boys in the cross ties and opted to start with Cody, figuring he hates waiting so maybe getting his adjustment first would calm him down. He wasn't horribly out of wack but had some low back issues. Axel also had some minor low back issues but that was about it for him. Of course Cody was not patient. He left two huge cow pies in the barn aisle and started to do his little cat stretch which freaks me out. I put Cody in a stall so I could clean up his mess and in case he peed. He proceeded to pace and sweat and just generally be a pain in the butt while Axel was finishing up.

I brought them back out to the pasture one at a time (hey I learned my lesson). Cody first, since he was the most likely to kill himself waiting. He proceeded to run around in circles while I went and grabbed Axel.

So then yesterday we had a farrier appointment. I was getting worried I might have to call and have someone else handle my horses if I was having this baby but the baby stayed where it belonged and I was able to waddle out to the pasture once again to get the boys. Cody was actually very calm and let me lead him slowly back to the barn. He stood well for the farrier while I grabbed Axel. Axel, the fat lazy lame horse, has found a new walking speed that I cannot keep up with so leading him is a bit harder these days. I'm glad he's feeling so good though. He was fine for the farrier and I put Cody back outside and left Axel in to do a bit of grooming since it had been so long. He still has a few remaining scabs but otherwise is looking good. I really should get out there one more time with the hose and try and get those last bits off and I still haven't ordered any Tea Tree spray which I'd like to use throughout the summer just to keep things at bay. It's rained probably 5 inches in the past week or two and there really is only one muddy spot in their new pasture so that's a good sign and it's not all that bad of a spot. So if I can get Axel cleared up maybe I can get ahead of the scratches this year, finally.

Mud Fever in Full Swing

Sounds like Cody was feeling a little goofy on Saturday when N went out to ride. I'm hoping it's just a little Spring fever. Though we do have an appointment for the chiropractor in May, just too bad it's so far off. I guess they got as far as they usually get down the road and back, then a car passed by and he went a little bonkers so N dismounted. And as it has been lately, this occurred right in front of the driveway. Here's hoping a little nicer weather, more riding, and the chiropractor can get Cody back to earth.

Monday was our usual farrier visit and other than Axel being a bit of a pain in the rear everything went as usual. I brought Axel back in after everyone was done so I could attempt to remove some of his scabs. He's mostly okay with me fiddling around but tends to yank his feet up as high as he can. It's not too big a deal if I'm ready for it and don't get in the way but occasionally he loses his balance and I don't want to be pinned between him and the stall or the floor if he falls. I did manage to get off some pretty large scabs, they were pretty loose so it wasn't too hard to do between his little dance moves. I decided to go with the MTG this time so I did my best to get his legs good and soaked in that. I figure at the very least it might loosen up some more scabs. J offered to share some of his sulfur mix he makes for the clydesdale and hose down Axel's legs and what not for me. I still have my doubts that the sulfur mix or the MTG will actually kill anything but it's worth a try. Luckily the pasture is now roped off so they can't get to the low spots and the area they are confined to seems like it might dry out pretty quickly. Apparently when J was putting up the temporary fence he took a step and ended up over his muck boots in mud/water. The low spot of their pasture is basically like a bog. He thinks there's something up with the tiling that was done by the county a couple years ago. It'll be nice when it dries and they get some of the footing (read: manure) packed down a bit. Axel is pretty sore right now so I might see if I can find some tea tree spray, someone mentioned that it has a bit of a numbing affect and being able to spray it on from a distance is always a nice feature. After all of this including being a real bugger for the farrier, Axel was actually walking very soundly on our way back out to the pasture. I should have taken some time to work him a bit in the arena but with sore pasterns I don't really want to put boots on him yet. Maybe next time (famous last words).

Farrier Visit

Well the good news is that the next time the farrier comes out it will be a lot warmer. We always end up with one appointment on what seems like the coldest day of the year. I broke out the full carhart overalls and jacket this time. Both boys got trimmed up. Cody still has that small crack/chip we keep trying to work out but it cracks just enough that it's never completely gone. Doesn't bother him and it was just a crack this time not a full on chip. Axel behaved as best as he could and only complained about his knee for a few minutes. That was about it, I hung out and chatted while the other horses had their feet done. It's been a while since I've been to the barn when other people were around, too bad it was freezing out.

Chubby Ponies

Ran out to the barn last night after work to find the farrier already in the barn finishing the last horse before mine. J had him come out early and I made it just in time to grab my guys. He trimmed up Axel first and despite the "please hurry up" look at Axel's face, he handled his right knee very well. It must be retaining a bit of flexibility still so that's good. I had both boys tied in the arena when they were done while we chatted for a bit with the farrier. Danny and Vinnie were in the arena as well and everyone was very quiet. It must have been nice to just rest out of the cold and wind on decent footing for a while.

We discussed Cody and Axel's swelling. The farrier said every time he's seen something like what my guys have it was due to extra fat. Which I think stands to reason. Axel is totally chubby has been for years, he's just a big guy. Cody wasn't huge last year and the round bale really helped him. But this year he went into winter a lot more fit and maybe he had just enough weight that adding to it was just what he needed to add that swelling. So I think once again we're at old + cold + no movement + eating too much = swollen horse.

Now with the snow in the pasture it's interesting to see where the horses have gone. Someone has a spot for rolling but mostly they've stuck near the feeder or the round bale. There's one set of tracks that goes along the fence line out into the pasture maybe 10 feet but that's it. No one has gone frolicking in the snow. The other groups of horses I've seen all over their pastures and frequently see them playing. Cody and Axel just love their hay. I wonder what would happen if they had round bales all year ... I might have to buy super wide saddles!

Makeshift Surgery

Axel may be accident prone but he is really the best patient I could ask for I think. I actually beat the farrier to the barn this time as did two other boarders. Since they already had horses in I messed around getting my saddle and stuff out of the car, put it in the sun to dry more, and hung out for a bit while they had their horses trimmed and shod. I grabbed Axel and brought him over to the tree to hose off his feet. I half thought about giving him a real bath but decided against it. The cut on his foot was looking okay. The flap of skin wasn't completely shriveled up yet and the wound itself was a little meaty looking. He might be getting a bit of scar tissue. I'll have to do some research on how to prevent that from getting too bad. I got him groomed up, scrubbed his back feet with the Norwex cloth, scrubbed in some Chlorhexidine on both his back feet and his wound, and then put some tri-care on the cut while we waited for our turn. He was starting to get a little antsy waiting so we walked around a bit on the gravel beside the arena so he could at least keep his wound clean for a few minutes.

The farrier trimmed him up taking extra care on this right front since that's his sore knee. I guess he had forgotten about that particular issue of Axel's but noticed Axel stiffen up ever so slightly as he picked up that foot and immediately remembered. When he got around to that left front with the cut and flap of skin he asked if I wanted him to nip that off. I told him he could try, I wasn't sure how much of it was still alive or would be painful. Axel stood there with his foot on the stand while the farrier tried to get the flap of skin off with his nippers. Then he tried another nippers. Then he had to resort to his hoof knife because the flap just wasn't coming off. Axel didn't move a muscle the whole time. So either it didn't hurt at all or he's just that awesome. I'm guessing the former. That little flap of skin bled like you would not believe so I grabbed a diaper and some vet wrap that I keep in my little first aid bag and we wrapped up his foot. I left him in a stall for a while but it was apparent he was unhappy with that situation so I put him back out in the pasture. I figured it'll at least stay clean for a little bit while it clots up and I'll just unwrap it in a day or so and see how it's doing. I'll have to remember to restock my first aid bag as well.

Cody was the usual patient boy for his trim. He had some troubles with his front feet on the stand stretched out I might need to do some more leg stretches with him and help him get relaxed in that position. He might have just been stiff from Saturday's ride though he trotted up the yard in front of the barn while I was leading him up to be trimmed.

Farrier Visit

I should have awesome pictures of the three clydesdales running around the pasture and lining up in a row at the fence. But I don't. You'll have to use your imagination or find a Budweiser Clydesdale commercial on YouTube.

I held Axel and Cody and Diva, fetched Dolly, Steele, Danny, and Vinnie, and held Vinnie for the farrier last night. Everyone was on their best behavior. Axel was a little annoyed at having that right front knee bent and he kept wrinkling his nose and snorting. I've never seen him do something like that before, but he didn't pull his leg away and was much more cooperative with all 4 legs than he had been the last time Marv was out. He had a couple ticks, one on his nostril and one big yucky one on his forelock along with a lot of scabby spots from previous ticks. Ick. I keep spraying him with fly spray but I might have to bust out the Wipe for his forelock especially if I'm going to be gone all weekend, maybe I can sneak out on the way out of town on Friday and wipe him down. And someone please tie me to the sewing machine until I fix Cody's fly mask so save his poor pink nose.

Cody's crack isn't completely grown out yet and it passed the mark we made in his hoof so we could track it but it didn't seem to get too bad so hopefully it'll grow out this next time.

It was just too nice and cool to not try and ride again so after everyone was done I tacked up the old man in the arena. No yawning as I tacked. I got on and off a couple times because I really wanted the pad to be exactly right so I wasn't pinching anything. He was still not very willing and pretty darn lazy so it didn't go much better than our first post-chiro ride. But once again there was another horse in the arena and he has a hard time thinking about what he's doing and not paying attention to that other horse. It's part "I have to keep my eye on him" and part "he's not working why should I." Yes, I know, we need to work on ground driving. The next test will be out on the road but I didn't have enough time last night so we just stayed in the arena.

I'm not sure how I like the Tacky Too pad. I know we use them a lot in TR but it just seems like his back gets so darn hot under it. Maybe his back gets just as hot with the wool pad and I'm just looking for issues right now. But! there was a lot of long and low stretching. Still some yawning while I was riding but the long and low seemed like it was a good sign. And! there was a lot of licking and chewing. So maybe we're doing okay.

Only 3.5 Hours

I only spent 3.5 hours at the barn last night. Maybe a little longer than planned but it was farrier day so there was a lot going on and a lot of people to talk to. All the boarders are pretty spread out in the times they are able to ride. I'm usually there week nights, A is there later on weeknights, S is there during the day as well as S&L and J, and B is usually on the weekends. So we don't all run into each other very often unless we plan something.

J was fertilizing the pastures and hoping for rain. There was a note on the white board that Dallas was sold already. S&L are getting out of horses so they can move to FL or something. I was surprised how fast Dallas sold and I guess Riley has some lookers as well. I guess Dallas is going to a 6 year old girl that does breed shows so that should be a really good home for him.

I brought Cody in first and tied him in the arena with Amigo. He was tied near the open barn door but he was still kind of concerned at the happenings going on around him. He calmed down a bit when I brought Axel in and tied him next to him but he managed to dig himself a pretty impressive hole in the arena that I had to fill when we were done. Cody stood for the farrier as well as he usually does. He has a crack in his left front that the farrier marked with a rasp to see if it's getting worse or growing out at all. Axel was a little less than patient and really didn't want to stretch his back left out behind him. I should probably start working on the leg stretches with him too. The farrier looked at his xrays before trimming so maybe he'll be able to get around a little better now.

While we were working on Axel, S suggested we clip Cody's goat beard. I had my doubts that he'd actually tolerate the clippers but she thought her clippers were quiet enough so she gave it a try. Only a few minutes later and Cody is a new man sans beard. He looks so much nicer now. I guess he was just fine with the clippers. S is going to be selling all her equipment when Riley sells so maybe I'll see if I can buy the clippers from her. J might also be interested so we might have to duke it out.

I ended up lunging Axel at the walk for 5 minutes in each direction. He did pretty good for the first 5 minutes but the second 5 minutes he was getting bored and wanted to stop or slow down. He ended up doing a little bit of trotting just to pick up the pace and so I could ask for a walk and hopefully get it. He was moving well at the walk though, more sound than he's been all winter. He was pretty cranky about getting into the trot but would settle in after a few head tosses. I think by the end of the month he'll be trotting fine, I bet most of it is just annoyance at having to work again. Lunging at the walk is really difficult I've found. It's boring and hard to keep the horse moving and out on the circle without wandering away.

I lunged Cody for a few minutes as well and he did finally break into a canter but it wasn't great. I was happy he at least did it considering the last time we tried. I ended up putting both horses back in the pasture before B arrived and wondered if I was going to ride. So I went out and got Cody again and decided to get back into the dressage saddle (note to self, wear breeches next time, jeans + dressage saddle = not fun). B wanted to work on her posting and whatnot for the show she's doing this weekend so we were exchanging tips and tricks. She was trying to find the right stirrup length both for her saddle and for her ability to trot. We ended up swapping horses so she could try and post on Cody and I could try Diva. And we've determined it's not her ability to post it's Diva. She is so bouncy you just can't help but post high out of the saddle. I felt like I was three miles above her. I'll stick with my QA/Paint horses I think. Yikes! Cody and I managed to get a left lead canter after a few tries and B got a right lead canter albeit pretty lazy on Cody's part. So I called it a night at that point and helped video tape B so she could analyze her riding before the show.

My plan next is to keep working on Cody from the ground doing some of Kirsten Nelson's exercises that I have in her first workbook. I'd love it if I could get Cody back to sane without the chiropractor and then just use the adjustment as icing on the cake later on. Cody is going to need some sane as soon as the pastures are open again because Vinnie is going in with the big kids and Jesse is probably going back with Logan and Steele and Cody hates change. We've decided the pasture arrangements are as such "the geldings", "the girls", "the old men", and "the big kids." Cody and Axel are the old men.

Manicure Time

Last night was farrier night. I was a bit early as usual so I fed Axel his MSM while we waited. He was already in the crossties so he had his feet done first. He's been doing a new thing lately where you ask for his hind left and he picks up his hind right instead. I'm not sure if he's just trying to avoid putting more weight on his front right or what. He was not terribly pleased to have that front right knee bent and the farrier only bent it the bare minimum. He seemed pretty sore when he was done so I tied him in the arena while I tried to thaw out some paste bute. I'm ready to give up on the powder. I think I'll just get a dosing syringe from Fleet Farm and mix the powdered bute with water and dose him that way. He actually doses really easily, at least the last two times I've buted him.

So I got Cody and groomed both of them while we waited for Cody's turn to have his feet done. His front left has a bit of notch/chip in the toe. Not sure how he got a chip walking through 2 feet of snow but he managed. It's not too serious, hopefully it'll grow out. And other than hanging out while everyone else got their feet done that was about it for the trip to the barn. They've got a lot of snow out there and I guess Cody was running around playing in it a bit. But for the most part they all confine themselves to the round bale.

The plans for spring are to move Vinnie into the big pasture and Cody and Axel will go in the paddock until their pasture has a chance to revive itself. Assuming they stop the round bales near that time, it might be a good diet for fat Axel. We're working on getting an appointment in March for shots and coggins and I'll get Axel's knees xrayed and then figure out what the next step is. It might be easier/cheaper to go with something like Adequan instead of the daily supplements (which haven't started working yet as far as I can tell).

Cold Day for the Farrier

So we picked the coldest day so far to have the farrier out. He said if it was too cold he would have canceled so I guess it wasn't too cold. Axel was super mellow and only wanted to lift his right hind (which is weird since it's his left hind that hurts). Cody was a good boy as usual. I don't think either of the horses needed much trimming, just some filing and cleaning up. I really should get one of those rider's rasps and try it out.

It was a pretty uneventful trip to the barn. I helped bring in Vinnie for his manicure and stood around chatting. Cody is looking awesome now that he has a round bale and that was one of the many reasons they decided to put some out. He and Vinnie seem to be pretty good buddies while Axel still chases Vinnie around a little. Vinnie wants to eat at the feeder with Cody and Axel but he's not allowed to do that quite yet. There's a few "test bites" on the rafters in the shelter but other than that everything looks unchewed. And the round bale makes me feel better about the horses when it's below zero. They can keep warm stuffing their faces with grass.

One of these days I'll settle into the cold and get back to riding. Winter conditioning and winter therapeutic riding classes start the first week in January so I'll have to get used to the cold by then. At least the TR class I'm teaching is in a heated arena at the U.

Consistency?

I just really like this photo of Cody from this summer. I haven't been great with the camera lately, especially when there's so many people around at the barn. I'll have to make up for that this winter and maybe even bring my big camera out of hiding.

Yesterday was farrier day so I went out to the barn pretty early to fetch up the horses and be there when everyone arrived. Axel was a bit of a pill and jumped around when the farrier had his back left. And he tried to kick Diva several times when she passed by. Cody was pretty much as normal. He just wanted to see every direction at once.

I set up some cones in the arena to work on some trotting, kind of the NSEW exercise. It went sort of okay. Then we worked on some circles since the outside of the NSEW pattern makes a nice circle. We're having consistency issues. We go slow around a couple corners then speed up or almost canter around another corner. We have a hard time turning away from the gate and then the opposite corner of the gate he cuts in and speeds up (maybe cuz that's the first time he sees the gate again?). So there was a lot of "trot-easy-trot-easy" going on. We worked a bit on cantering with the same issues getting around that corner by the gate. J was watching and telling me to put my outside leg on. Our other issue is lack of bending and lack of understanding what I'm asking. I try and ask for a bend with my inside leg on the girth but he thinks that means speed up or canter. And trying to get him to move off that inside leg to keep the circle wide gets the same result. I'm not sure what we should work on in respect too all those issues. Do we work on maintaining a constant speed first and then add the bend? Or vice versa? I will have to think on that a bit.

We spent a few minutes working on turn on the forehand in the corner of the arena. The wall helps block forward movement but the turn on the haunches is another story. I tried to back into the corner to work on that but we weren't as successful. And our backing up issue is still there. I've changed to verbal-wiggle reins-more rein-smack on shoulder. I'm hoping if I keep that up consistently we'll get down to only needing verbal or the rein wiggle. The smack on the shoulder right now gets his attention and he'll back a few steps quite lively. We might have to spend a day only working on that, once he gets it I think we'll be fine.

Farrier Day

We had a WCR staff meeting right after the farrier so I was only able to stay for a few minutes and chat. Both boys had their feet done in what seemed like record time. J even said "they're done already?" But when they just get a trim it doesn't take very long. Axel has a semi concerning crack and everyone's feet are so dry lately. Cody had his toes completely chipped off. I think I might have to pick up one of those rider's rasps and see how that works to keep their feet nicer between trims. We chatted a bit about putting the horses on cattle and how J wants to get a couple calves to have at the barn.

When I first drove up I noticed Cody wasn't wearing his fly mask. There were a couple lumps in the pasture upon further inspection turned out to be his mask. In two pieces. He completely ripped the nose piece off. I think I can fix it but now that it's getting to be fall I think he'll be okay for the rest of the year in the sun burn category. Clearly he doesn't want to wear the mask any more.

Farrier Day

Just got back from the barn. The farrier was out to trim everyone up. The flies make for trimming feet a little more tricky but everyone managed to stand pretty well. When that was all said and done I went to ride Axel in the arena while A worked with Vinnie. It's always a good lesson for Axel to be in the arena when someone else is working since he tends to not like other horses much. He managed to shake his bridle off, luckily I didn't have to reward him by dismounting, A put the bridle back on for me and we trotted off. Of course that just made him mad and he threw out a few bucks in response. When I got a few nice things out of him I dismounted and lunged him for a bit. I'm hoping if I can get him increasingly comfortable on the lunge he'll start feeling better under saddle. He threw a few good bucks and fancy moves on the lunge but leveled out and worked well so we called it a night.

Manicure Day

It was farrier day at the barn so I skipped out of work early to get there in time. The barn owner already had Axel in a stall (standing quietly I might add, yay Axel). Cody was having his usual fit in the pasture. The farrier was just about done with Danny so I brought Cody in to get trimmed. He, of course, stood like a champ for the trim, he always does. Cody always gets these purple/pink/red spots on his hooves so I asked about them. Come to find out they are bruises but the farrier said he and his farrier cohorts haven't figured out exactly the cause. Originally they thought they were coming from the coronary band and moving down but evidence suggests that's not the case. So the best they can figure in their discussions is that the bruises come from the sole of the foot and travel out the wall. Interesting stuff. I really like this farrier, he asks what kind of work the horse does and how often and looks at the hooves to decide how to trim. I put Cody in a stall so Axel could get trimmed. It's a good time to practice being in a stall, which they both seem to handle well if there's other horses nearby. Alone in the barn might be a different story but alone in the pasture is difficult already.

Axel behaved fairly well, he gets a little antsy but nothing horrible. I turned him out while Cody had a minor fit. It was too nice out to go home and the barn was now empty so Cody and I worked on some groundwork for a while. He wasn't paying total attention being lunged, he got better with the turns, okay at the bending, and he wasn't thrilled with backing up. I had his attention at this point so I grabbed a lunge whip and tried a bit more lunging and more turns. I wanted to put away the whip so I dropped the lead and told him to "stand." And from there we worked on ground tying for quite a while. He was getting the picture and staying put or correcting himself with just a verbal cue. After some back and forth I was able to get about half the arena length away from him to put away the whip while he stood and watched. He actually stayed almost entirely concentrated on me with only a few glances out the door at the other horses. I let him off the hook, as it were, and went to grab the short lead rope and an apple. Following my unwritten rules I led Cody (at liberty) to the far end of the arena to give him his treat and clip on the leadrope. He got a little pushy after his apple, he really wanted to get back out the pasture and knew the apple must mean the end of our work. So we backed up from the far end of the arena to the gate. There was a little work involved in that but we made it and cody came back down to earth to listen to me. We backed out the barn door as usual and grazed for a while in the yard.

I did a little groundwork with Axel just in the pasture and it was almost as if he remembered some of our previous work, believe it or not! We did our turns pretty okay considering he was really more interested in grazing. That was about all we worked on, I checked for ticks and called it a night. I'm starting to think Axel might be gaining some weight. I hope he's not eating Cody's food, Cody needs to gain weight not Axel!

Manicure Day

Once again I brushed and brushed and brushed and there's still hair and mud everywhere. One of these days it'll be gone. Went out to the barn early to get the boys cleaned up before the farrier arrived. Both horses behaved themselves for their trim. He tapered Axel's front feet a bit so he doesn't flare out too much. He thought Cody's angles looked good. I could stand to get him x-rayed again though to make sure there's no change or laminitis.

When they were both done I decided to work with Axel for a while. He stood tied in the arena while I puttered around and he was very polite about it. Even with all the other horses in the aisle getting trimmed. He lunged the trot and canter pretty well also. Reluctant to pick up the canter but he had both leads. I got on and we walked for a bit and trotted. In my attempts to get him to collect a bit, wiggling the outside rein, he kept offering a canter. Well in reality I think it was actually just pissing him off and it wasn't a canter but a buck. So we tried a few canters. Went okay but slow to the right. And it was disjointed to the left. The barn owner mentioned it looked pretty rough. And boy was it. Even his trot was jerky and hard to ride. As much as I can figure it's a combination of having deeper footing so he has to pick up his feet more, he's moving out a little more than usual, and he had quite a bit of time off. I couldn't sit his trot to save my life. I was really riding poorly in the grand scheme of things. I'm pretty sure I have a bruise on my knee from smacking it on the saddle. I'm pretty sure that doesn't happen if a person rides properly. Oh well. We got out and moved around a bit and with the exception of a few little bucks things went okay. I'm not sure if Cody called while we were riding and Danny was being trimmed but when I brought Axel back out he was facing away from the gate not looking very concerned.